Monday, October 3, 2011

Our friends Mike and Mary organized the tailgating/football party and we were excited to see some college football.

While we've been to many, many SEC games we have never made it to a Big Ten game.

We're 45 minutes from Bloomington - we really should do this more often.

We got to the tailgating area early and it was chilly!

But we got a great spot for our 3 vehicles and set up our food and drinks.

Some of us (Miss Mary) were really, really cold.﻿

The boys entertained themselves with these walnuts they found.

They also immediately found the cookies, cakes, and banana breads that Miss Mary and Miss Susan brought.﻿

Go IU!﻿

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There were a lot of noticeable differences between this game and a typical SEC football game and I have to share them here.

We arrived 3 hours before kick-off and got a prime tailgating spot without having to pay a booster club one of our salaries. It was pretty unbelievable.

That designated tailgating area was really nice with great people all around us - all a 3 minute walk to the stadium. awesome﻿

I purchased all of our tickets online, having never been to the stadium. I was concerned we were going to have bad seats.

Because the IU stadium is smaller than most of the SEC stadiums we've been to, it turns out there wasn't a bad seat - and they were really affordable. The kids' tickets were only $5.﻿

Look at that sky. It turned out to be a warm, beautiful Fall day!﻿

There was a lot of school spirit and we learned some of the cheers but it was super laid back compared to SEC rivalries. I'm sure it's different at a Michigan vs. Michigan State game, but this was completely civilized.

Although we must say it was odd not to hear a single cowbell or a "Go to Hell Ole Miss" the entire day.﻿

There are 100 members in the IU band. Thomas enjoyed watching the Trumpets.

David pointed out the band left their hats in the letters IU.

Oh and I have to show you the lines to the restroom 2 minutes before half-time.

And the concession stand right next to it had a 3 minute wait.

Do Hoosiers not need popcorn?﻿

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Then the boys took over the camera for awhile and I got some interesting shots.﻿

Though Thomas did get some good action shots.﻿

And a photo of this guy.

Who woke up Sunday with the right half of his face sunburned.﻿

The field is called The Quarry. There are a number of limestone mines around Bloomington.﻿

Besides the opportunity to tailgate and enjoy football with friends, here is the reason we're taking the boys to more sporting events these days. See them? The sun was too bright to see their Nintendo DS screens so they had to hide.under.their.coats to play.

We restricted the DS's quite a bit during the game, because COME ON!﻿

I missed my chance to snap a photo of the State/UGA score (probably a good thing).﻿

That's the biggest Flag on the Play sign I've ever seen.﻿

It was also cool to see Penn State's Joe Paterno coach his 700th college game at age 83!!